Tomorrowland in Disneyland takes shape during construction in 1955. That's the famous TWA rocket being positioned on its "launching pad."

"A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying man’s achievements.... A step into the future with predictions of constructive things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure, and ideals, the atomic age, the challenge of outer space and the hope for a peaceful and unified world." —Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland dedication speech, July 17, 1955

Of all the "lands" created for Disney theme parks, Tomorrowland has proven to be the most challenging for Disney’s Imagineers.

When Walt Disney opened the futuristic land in Disneyland with the words above, the basic premise of the area was to give guests a projection of what the world would look like in the far-off 1980s.

Once the 1980s came and went, it was obvious that many of those bold predictions hadn’t come true. So Tomorrowland in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World languished, stuck somewhere between Walt Disney’s "vista" and the "new frontiers" of the days ahead.

Man’s race for space was a major topic of conversation in the mid-1950s, but much of that talk was purely speculation; it would be several more years before Russian and American scientists would be successful in sending manned spacecraft into orbit.

Rocket ships, which still have a futuristic feel to them, were a prominent feature of Disneyland’s early Tomorrowland, with both the towering TWA rocket as well as the spinning StarJets ride. They were thought to be a viable transit vehicle for the future.

While rockets have proven quite useful in carrying man to the moon, building the International Space Station and helping in the proliferation of cell phones, they haven’t quite made it as a mass transportation option.

The Monsanto House of the Future in Disneyland.

One of Disneyland’s most popular early attractions was the Monsanto House of the Future, which opened in 1957. The house showed wide-eyed guests what a typical house might look like in 1986. Aside from the introduction of microwave ovens, there really wasn’t much more to it than as an avenue show clever ways to use plastics.

By the end of the 20th century, Disney’s Tomorrowland concept was very much at a crossroads. The idea of predicting the future had become way too problematic.

So Disney’s ever-clever Imagineers hit on the perfect solution: Putting the future that never was on display.

We’re talking campy stuff, here. Buck Rogers. Jules Verne. H.G. Wells. They created an area in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World that resembled what the visionaries of the past imagined the world of tomorrow would look like.

Tomorrowland in Disneyland is up and running in the early 1960s. Note the two "aliens" walking among the park guests, lower right corner.

And in doing so, they came up with a winner. By showing us a future that never was, they gave us a place that — unlike Tommorrowlands of the past — was immune to becoming outdated.

Tommorrowland is now a happy blending of the future, with a dash of retro sci-fi thrown in for good measure. It's a place where heroic Buzz Lightyear lives in harmony with the mischievous Stitch and wise-cracking Mike Wazowski, as well as the spinning AstroOrbiter and a mountain geared to taking guests on a thrilling journey through darkened space.